Fruit Laundering: Japanese Farmers Startled by Brazen Thefts

Luxury Japanese fruit sells for a pretty penny. That’s motivating organized crime rings to turn to fruit theft as a new source of income.

By Himari Semans

A string of fruit thefts targeting luxury peaches and grapes started in June this year. Here’s how a new robbery just last week caps a string of daring produce heists.

Yamanashi Prefecture: Fruit heaven to crime scene

Picture: Yoshitaka / PIXTA(ピクスタ)

Yamanashi Prefecture is Japan’s fruit heaven.

The fruit farming system in the alluvial fans in Yamanashi Prefecture’s Kyotō (峡東) area earned recognition as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage (GIAHS) by the United Nations this July. Peaches from the Kyotō area are high-quality products that sell for as much as ¥800 ($5.36 USD) each in luxury fruit shops and department stores.

But during harvest season this year, fruit heaven became a crime scene.

A total of approximately 17,000 peaches were lost to theft between mid-June and…